what is it they say about the apple and the tree?

Note: Wow, okay, another crappy week, but we made it to the end, didn't we? Thanks for voting and commenting and reading and all that lovely stuff. I've loved talking to you guys this week.


This chapter was requested by Mmiller13 who wanted to see Anna and Dean go under cover as father and daughter. You requested this ages ago. I'm sorry it took so long, but I appreciate your patience. I hope you find it worth the wait.


Also, to everyone still waiting for me to write their request, I promise I will write it. all in good time. ❤️


In this chapter, Anna is fifteen.



what is it they say about the apple and the tree?


"Tell me one more time why we're dressed like this," Anna grumbled while Dean fixed the back of her shirt collar.


"Because," he said, putting his hands on his shoulders and holding her at arm's length so he could take a good look at her. "This school's got standards."


"Hella old-fashioned standards," Anna complained. She looked down at herself in displeasure. This school insisted on plaid skirts, collared shirts, and blazers. She wasn't even allowed to wear her OSIRIS sneakers, because they required dress shoes for their students. It all seemed pointless and mildly insulting to her, being forced to dress up for the sole purpose of conformity and appearances. She'd always been the type to dress for comfort in every circumstance but the most rare. "Why are we even doing this? Can't you just break in or something?"


"We could. But this is easier. We'll get the Headmaster out of his office, Sam will sneak in and download the files onto his harddrive. Bam. We're good to go."


Anna fiddled with a button on her shirt until Dean smacked her hand away with a warning to quit messing with it. "Man, I feel like I'm in a super lame version of Mission Impossible," she whined and reached down to straighten her skirt. It went all the way down to her knees, and she wanted so badly to toss it aside for a pair of jeans or a denim skirt. She had an aesthetic, and this crap did not align with it. She felt like her self-expression was under attack.


"You can't call me 'man' if this is gonna be at all believable," Dean reminded her and turned to the mirror while he tied his tie. "Quit messing with everything. You look fine."


"I don't look fine. I look like I go to Chilton." She stepped beside him at the mirror and gestured to the plaid skirt in particular, then registered the first half of what he'd said. "And about that, what's the point in pretending I'm your kid? Why can't you just be my brother?"


"I'm just trying to make us look as normal as possible. Divorced single father is probably a more familiar story to these wealthy dickbags than devastatingly handsome older brother."


Anna pursed her lips at that. "I'm not calling you Dad."


"Yes, you are." Dean went over to the bed where the clothes hangers to all their rented clothes still lay. He held open her blazer for her, and Anna made a face at it before reluctantly sticking her arms into the sleeves and letting him adjust it. She'd never worn anything quite so fancy before. It made her feel expensive. And not in a good way. "It won't take that long, Rugrat. I promise."


"You gotta stop calling me that," Anna groaned and tossed her head back. "Seriously. I'm not five."


Dean just grinned smugly at her and ruffled her hair. "Come on. Sam's waiting."


Anna groaned and made a vain attempt at fixing her hair. She was having a remarkably good hair day with almost no frizz, and Dean had to go and muss it up. She straightened her skirt and stole one last glance at herself in the mirror. The outfit didn't suit her, but she did look rather... professional. It would definitely help her get in character.


()()()


The school campus was expansive. In fact, Anna wouldn't have known it was a high school and not a college if she hadn't seen the many signs on the way in, all of which had signalled that they were headed for Belmont Academy, one of the 'highest rated boarding schools in America.'


Standing outside of the main building while she waited for Dean to walk around the Impala, she couldn't help but think back to her first day at Lebanon High School. She'd been scared out of her wits, and it had come out like anger, because that was the Winchester response. Dean's hand on her shoulder then had been something between a peace offering and a familiar gesture of comfort.


Today, though the circumstances were colossally different, Anna felt the same combination of annoyed and safe when Dean stepped up behind her and his hand settled on her shoulder.


"Ready?" he asked.


"No," Anna deadpanned and started up the walkway. It wasn't plain pavement. It was made up of multicolored stones with some kind of an almost glossy finish to it. It felt pretentious. Everything about this place felt pretentious.


"Just remember what we talked about."


"Yeah, yeah, don't be sarcastic, witty, or have a mind of my own. Got it."


"Basically," Dean replied dryly. "The attitude is gonna have to disappear too."


"Mhm," Anna murmured. She wasn't really angry with Dean per se, but she was definitely not not angry either. She didn't know who else to take it out on. She looked up at the sign above the main entrance which included the school's code of honor written out in latin. "Buncha dogmatists," she said spitefully. "Pretentious-ass dogmatists."


Dean grabbed her by the elbow before she could ring the little doorbell that would let the secretary know they were there. Anna huffed out an unhappy breath as he turned her around to face him. "I know you don't like this, Anna," he said, direct and to the point. "I know. You think I want to talk to these pretentious dickfaces any more than you do?"


"No," Anna admitted grumpily. "It just sucks."


"Yeah, well, it'll be over soon." He let go of her elbow, and they both turned to face the front doors.


Anna stared at the little doorbell beside the entrance, waiting for Dean to do the honors. They stood like that for almost a full minute before she finally said, "You gonna hit the buzzer, or are we gonna stand here all morning?"


Dean let out a sigh that indicated he was genuinely dreading this as much as she was. "Considering your attitude toward this place, you're awfully pushy about getting inside."


"Sooner we go in, sooner we get the hell-"


"Watch it."


"-out. Seriously?"


"Anna, if you drop one curse word in there, I swear..."


With an eye roll, Anna reached forward and pressed the button herself. A buzzing sound reached her ears faintly from inside, and after a moment, there was the sound of the doors unlocking. Dean reached around her to pull one open and hold it. "Such a gentleman," Anna mumbled. She braced herself for the rest of the morning, taking a moment to wipe her hands over her front self-consciously in case she somehow looked dirty or her clothes were somehow wrinkled. Then she stepped inside, Dean right behind her. They'd come in during a transition between classes. It was 9:30, give or take a couple minutes, and the hallway was packed with students moving in either direction, headed for classes.


Two girls walked side by side, arms interlocked, both staring down at one girl's phone, gawking over a text message or image that Anna couldn't see. They bumped into a tall guy in a blazer and khakis-- the boys' version of the school uniform-- and he turned to whistle at them and make an obscene gesture. "Asshole," one of them grumbled. The other shrugged and rolled her eyes.


Anna silently observed that this place may not have been quite as different from Lebanon High School as she'd first thought. "Where are we supposed to go?" she asked, scanning the many faces passing them by.


"Let's just let the crowd clear," Dean suggested, grabbing her shoulder as if suddenly afraid that she would disappear into the swarm of kids. Anna wanted badly to grumble that she wasn't eight years old, and she walked through crowds this big back at Lebanon all the time. But she kept quiet. She didn't know these kids, and they made her far more uncomfortable than the kids at Leb. They all looked so sure of themselves, so put together.


"Push me down the stairs, Kai," one girl begged her friend. "You can say it was an accident. Just don't make me take this test."


"If you really can't even take a math test, you're gonna fail the SAT, Lindsay." At the biting tone of the girl's 'friend,' Anna watched them walk by in shock.


"That's not how the SAT works," the first girl said, unbothered, before their voices disappeared into the noise of the rest of the crowd.


It only took a few minutes before the crowd cleared and the hallway was left empty, revealing a doorway across the hall labeled Headmaster. There were three girls sitting on chairs outside the doorway, gossiping and looking annoyed. A second bell rang.


"Looks like we're on," Dean said, again keeping his hand on Anna's shoulder as they walked across the width of the hallway toward the office. "Remember-"


"I think I got it, Dean," Anna said impatiently.


The girls in the hallway stared at them as they entered the headmaster's office, one of them eyeing Dean while the other two looked at Anna, one of them whispering something to the other. She already felt ten times more self-conscious than she had before entering the building, and the tour hadn't even started yet.


"Good morning!" A chipper voice from behind the front desk drew Anna's attention from where she'd been looking down at her outfit again, trying to figure out what the girl outside might have been whispering about. Did she look that bad? She looked up to see a middle-aged woman with graying brown hair fashioned into a bob smiling at them both.


"Hi," Dean said with a polite smile.


"My name's Flora," she said with a big smile. "And you must be the Goodwins, here for your tour."


"How'd you know?" Dean asked, laying the charm on thick.


"Oh, I know every student's face in this school, and I've never seen you before, Dear," she said, looking at Anna. "You look lovely in the uniform. You'll fit right in here."


Anna smiled shyly at the compliment, not quite sure what to say other than the soft, "Thank you," she murmured. She didn't like to be looked at, and she didn't take compliments well as they usually just made her feel uncomfortable. She looked down at her shoes again, her pale curls falling in a curtain beside her face when she tilted her head.


"If you'll head into the office at the back, you'll find Mr. Bryant. He's talking with Ms Penn- that's the Dean of Student Life- but you can go right on inside. He's expecting you."


"Thanks, Flora," Dean said.


They walked to the back office, but the door was shut, and the sign said In Conference. "She said we could go in," Dean justified before turning the doorknob and pushing. Anna barely caught a glimpse of what was on the other side before Dean had slammed the door shut again and was moving her away from the office.


They were both silent for a moment. Anna blinked, wide-eyed, at the closed door to the office. "Were they just-?"


"Yep," Dean said, looking far more amused than disturbed. He caught the look of horror on Anna's face, though, and he put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't think about it."


Anna shook her head, still in shock as she stared at the door. "I can't not think about it."


They stood silently for a couple minutes, and Anna thought back to the grin on the receptionist's face when she'd told them to go ahead into the back. Maybe there had been a little mischief to it. But if she'd been trying to make the headmaster look bad, Anna had to laugh. She and Dean weren't even really here because she was a potential student.


"Did they see us?" she asked.


"I don't think they were looking at anything but each other's-"


"Okay!" Anna cut him off and watched Dean smirk. She stared in disgust at the closed door for another minute before her own face broke out into a smile. "And I thought public school was bad."


"Public or private, it's all high school, kid. Everyone's horny, and no one's happy."


Anna wrinkled her nose at that. "Gross."


"Do me a favor and keep that attitude," Dean said, stepping toward the door again. "Makes my job easier." He knocked a few times with his knuckles, and there was the sound of barely contained commotion on the other side of the door.


"You're not really gonna punch anyone I have sex with, are you?"


Dean did look deeply disturbed now. "Don't ever say the words 'I have sex' again," he requested. "Ever."


Annoying as it was to be so smothered, Anna still giggled at his discomfort. She figured she still had a couple years before she had to worry about that anyway. As it stood now, she still didn't even really find herself interested in sex. "You just saw that guy with his dick hangin' out, but you can't even hear me say the word sex?"


"Or the word dick. And keep your voice down. That's crude language for a Belmont Academy student."


"I'm not a Belmont Academy student."


Dean gestured sharply at the door, "Well, they don't know that-"


"Well, they're behaving pretty crudely for Belmont Ac-"


The door to the office suddenly swung open, and a tall woman in mauve matte lipstick and a clean black suit stepped out, shoes clicking on the floor. "Good morning," she said, calm and serious in demeanor. She offered her hand to Dean. "You must be Mr Goodwin." At Dean's nod, she said, "I'm pleased to meet you. And your daughter, Carrie?" She then shook Anna's hand, and Anna was beyond glad when the woman didn't seem to notice her blush after what they'd seen. "Ericka Penn, Dean of Students. I have a meeting to get to with another parent, but I hope to see you around."


Anna watched, impressed, as she stepped calmly out to the hallway.


"Hi. Hello. Uh, Good morning."


She turned, less impressed, to see the headmaster standing in the doorway now. He was fully clothed now, but she still couldn't help her inability to look him in the eye. Dean didn't seem to have any trouble with it. In fact, he had a smile on his face that was just about a centimeter shy of a shit-eating grin as he looked at the guy. "Hi, hello, uh, good morning to you too, Mr Bryant."


The man took Dean's teasing in good humor with a small but jovial laugh. It might have made Anna instantly like him had she not seen parts of him she didn't ever want to see just a couple minutes ago.


"James Erwin," Dean introduced. "And this is my daughter Carrie."


"Of course," Mr Bryant nodded and offered his hand to Dean to shake. He reached up one hand to self-consciously smooth his hair. "I have a few students who graciously offered to lead your tour," he said to Anna with a kind smile that she only glanced at before quickly returning her gaze to her shoes. "While the girls are walking the campus, we can discuss bureaucratic matters here in my office."


"What?" Anna and Dean asked at the same time, identical frowns crossing their faces. Anna didn't want to separate from her brother while they were in this place, but more importantly, their job while here was to get this guy out of his office so Sam could do his geeky computer thing without interruption.


"I said, while the girls walk-"


"No, I heard you," Dean said, quickly regaining his composure, he smiled charmingly. "I was hoping to take a look at the campus. I want only the best for my little girl," he said, wrapping an arm around Anna's neck and dragging her against his side. Face squished against his ribs, Anna looked at him with a glare that said he was going overboard. Dean took the hint and let her go, but the headmaster was smiling at them.


"I understand. We all want the best for our children. Why don't we talk outside and take a walk of our own around campus," he offered.


"Sounds great."


"Alright, then, let me introduce you to your peers, Carrie."


Anna took a second to realize he was talking to her, but then she smiled politely and nodded. The idea of going with three students here instead of sticking with Dean sounded positively hellish to her, but the tour could only last so long. All wretchedly awful things must come to an end, even if they tend to take forever doing it. Besides, once the day ended, she would totally have Dean wrapped around her finger, and if she asked for a trip to go bowling or see a movie before they left town, he would undoubtedly take her out of guilt-- especially considering she'd seen the headmaster's boy parts and been forced to spend time with three girls instead of just sticking with him like he'd promised.


They followed the headmaster out of the office, Anna looking unhappily at the ground. She felt Dean's hand on her head just long enough to tuck a few stray curls behind her ear, but she knew it was his way of trying to silently apologize for the way things were going. She still wasn't so great at this whole social thing. She had Kate, and she'd met some people through Kate back in Lebanon, but she didn't like talking to people her age. It only ever made her self-conscious. And these girls... she just knew she wouldn't have anything in common with them. She figured she'd let them do all the talking and tried to take solace in Dean's hand on her shoulder for the last couple seconds she was able to.


As soon as they entered the hallway, she shook his hand off by shrugging, and he took the hint.


"We ready, girls?" Mr Bryant asked, and the three girls who'd been sitting outside the office stood up.


The three of them nodded. "Carrie, this is Meredith," he said, gesturing to a girl with wavy dark hair and pale skin. She was wearing pink lipgloss and white eyeliner so that her mouth and eyes look big. She was pretty, Anna thought, and it made her feel even worse about her own appearance. "Evelyn," he said of the next girl, who had short dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. "And Nhi," he said, gesturing to the last one, an Asian-American girl wearing bright red lipstick and an expression that said she couldn't have cared less about this tour if she tried. She was pretty too, pretty in the same way Kate was, in a way that she looked a little older than she was and appeared maturely beautiful in a manner that most teenagers didn't. All three of them appeared sure of themselves, and it made Anna want to run in the other direction.


"Try to finish in half an hour," Mr Bryant said, looking at Meredith. "We don't want to waste Mr Erwin's time. He's a lawyer."


Anna smirked to herself, turning her face down so that her hair would hide the expression. Dean, a lawyer. The thought made her want to laugh out loud, and she had when Sam had first suggested it as their cover story.


"Will do, Mr Bryant. Thanks," Meredith promised.


They all watched as the headmaster and Dean walked down the hallway toward a side door to the building. Anna felt her heart rate pick up just a little now that she was alone. You'll never see these people again, she reminded herself. There's no reason to worry about what they think of you. Just be yourself.


"You wanna start with the fun part, or get to that last?" Meredith asked.


"Depends. How boring is the not-fun part?"


"I don't know. It's just the academic buildings. If you're really coming here, you'll get used to it really quickly."


"Academic buildings?" Anna repeated. "Plural?"


Evelyn gave her a strange look and chuckled awkwardly. "Yeah," she confirmed. "You're a potential transfer, right? Where did you go before here."


Anna shrugged one shoulder and followed the girls as they all started to walk toward the front doors she and Dean had come through ten minutes or so prior. "Lebanon High School."


"Huh. I've never heard of it," Meredith said. "Where is that? Is it just really small or something?" She pushed the door open and held it as the others walked outside.


"No, it's- it's in Lebanon. Kansas. It's just the town high school. Nothing fancy."


"Oh," Evelyn said, her expression transforming. "You mean you went to... public school?" Her voice dropped just a little on the last two words. It made Anna feel dirty.


"Yeah. Why?" she said, trying to pretend she didn't recognize the change in tone.


"So, if you come here, are you on a scholarship or something?"


"Don't be mean, Evelyn," Meredith said defensively, giving Anna look like she had her back. "Her Dad's a lawyer, why would she need a scholarship?"


Anna didn't get what was so mean about asking if she was on a scholarship. What was wrong with needing a scholarship? She swallowed uncomfortably, hoping this wasn't what the whole tour would be like. She caught eyes with Nhi and was grateful to see that she was smiling apologetically at her, clearly seeing the discomfort in Anna's body language.


"So you're from Kansas?" Meredith asked. Anna nodded. "That's cool. I don't know any Midwesterners. Anything I should know about Kansas before I go there? My family's planning a road trip this summer."


Anna laughed, "Well, I haven't really lived there very long. We move a lot."


"I thought your Dad was a lawyer. Doesn't he have to stay in one place?"


"Yeah. But we moved a couple years ago, and now we're thinking about moving here. He doesn't tell me why," she excused in an effort to switch topics.


"Oh," Meredith replied with a little shrug. "Anyway, we're passing the math building," she gestured to their right. "And before that was the science and tech-ed building." She waved back behind them but didn't actually turn to point it out. "Where'd you get that lipstick?" she asked interestedly. "It's a good, my lips but better shade."


Anna smiled a little, feeling slightly emboldened by the compliment. Maybe she could fit in a little, at least well enough to get through this tour less painfully than expected? "Colourpop," she said. "It's a tint."


"Colourpop," Meredith repeated. "Where is that, Evelyn?"


"It's online, Ditz."


Ditz? Anna thought. Did she just called her Ditz? That's kinda mean.


"That's what people call me," Meredith explained, for once managing to read Anna's expression correctly. "It's from the end of my name. Since, you know, Meredith is the worst name in the world."


"Oh," Anna said with a slightly awkward smile. "I figured it was a family name."


"It is," Meredith said, frowning like she was a little surprised Anna had managed to guess that. "How'd you know?"


"I don't know," Anna said with a half shrug. "It's, like, an older name. And naming children after parents or grandparents is pretty common, and especially common in upper-class families."


Meredith blinked at her, then slowly smiled. "You're, like, really smart, huh?"


The comment caught Anna off guard, and she opened and closed her mouth once, trying to think of a decent response. "Colourpop," Evelyn repeated, easily changing the subject. "I think I ordered from them once. Their stuff is crazy cheap, right?"


"Yeah, I get almost everything there," Anna said. "It's good quality."


Evelyn nodded thoughtfully. "Nhi knows good makeup too," she said.


Anna looked back at Nhi. She was wearing a brilliant red lipstick, and Anna had sorta been wanting to ask her what the shade was. She loved a good red, but she rarely felt bold enough to wear makeup at all, let alone starker lip colors like the one Nhi had on. Besides, these people were all made of money, so whatever the lipstick was, Anna probably wouldn't be able to afford it.


"It's Tom Ford," Nhi said, looking at Anna. "I got it at Sephora. She's right, I know makeup. But I also know the campus, which is what we should be talking about."


Evelyn rolled her eyes but didn't say anything, and Anna was pretty sure she was the only one who'd even seen the gesture.


"This is the arts building," Nhi said, pointing at a large, beautiful building. There were pillars out front and huge glass windows that covered most of the first two floors. "It's the school's pride and joy. This and the library. That's on the other side of campus, though. Anyway, the arts building is called the Jordan Gaye Center for the Arts after a student who went here, like, fifteen years ago. Story goes she was a beautiful artist, and the whole department was obsessed with her work. They all thought she was really goin' places. The next Picasso but less of a creep, you know?" Anna nodded, smiling a little. "She killed herself." The smile fell away. "But they named a building after her. So, you know, good for her."


Anna swallowed, watching Nhi continued down the sidewalk ahead of them.


"She volunteers to do these tours every single time," Evelyn said. "And it's always so she can tell that story."


"I'm going to class," Nhi called over her shoulder. She turned around and kept walking backwards away from them. "Nice to meet you, Carrie. I'll send you a discount code for Sephora."


Anna couldn't help a small smile even though she felt all around ill at ease. She turned to look at Meredith. "What's the fun part?"


Evelyn and Meredith looked at each other and grinned. They led Anna all the way to the other side of campus, past the library which she loathed to be staying out of-- it was massive, and she could only imagine the shelves of books inside packed from floor to ceiling. She wished briefly that Kate were with her. They would have gone inside the library and browsed the books for hours, Kate curling up in the Fantasy section while Anna ran her fingers along every cover on the Classics shelf. As it were, she followed these two strangers down the sidewalk toward a large white gate.


"Technically," Meredith said as they finally got to the gate. "This isn't even on campus. The gate's where it ends. But everybody hangs out here."


"Everybody," Evelyn agreed. "It's the only good place, and it's out of the way."


"Why's it have to be out of the way?" Anna asked.


Evelyn and Meredith shared a look and started to shake their heads, knowing smiles on their faces. Meredith looked at Anna. "How old are you?"


"Fifteen."


"Oh my god, you're a Freshman!" Evelyn squealed. "Wait, that's really cute-"


"Evelyn," Meredith scolded again. "That is kinda cute. We never get new students. Especially people we haven't known since middle school. Anyway, we're Juniors."


Anna nodded along. "What's this have to do with hanging out here?"


"There's a lake over there," Evelyn replied. "It's where the parties happen on Friday night. It's where the Bonfire happens at the end of the school year. But it's also just where people hang out. You can be chill. You can be crazy. Whatever."


"People skinny dip there at the end of Freshman year," Meredith said. "Like a rite of passage."


Anna laughed out loud, a grin staying on her face even after she stopped laughing. "Wait, so if I transfer before the end of the year, I'm in time for that?" she laughed again when they both nodded. "I really thought this place was gonna be lame, I'm not gonna lie."


Evelyn shrugged, still smiling. "It can be, I guess. The classes are hard, and everybody wants you to be focused on academics, and they really push extracurriculars. But everybody knows everybody, you know? And no one is really mean to each other. We kinda just get each other. It's nice sometimes."


"It's hard to explain," Meredith said. She ran her fingers through her hair and leaned back against the gate. "But you'll get it at the end of the year, at the bonfire. You're gonna have this moment. You'll look around at everybody singin' along to some Beyoncé song, and you'll just realize how much you actually like it here."


Anna nodded along. It sounded nice. It really did. But she tried not to let herself think about it. This private school life wasn't accessible to her for a number of reasons. She thought about Leb. She had Kate, and she was becoming better friends with Ethan, and she didn't have any real problems with Mila anymore. They just kinda avoided each other. She liked everybody in their grade well enough. There were only about forty or fifty of them, so she knew most people by name and had talked to most of them more than once in classes or at dances and fundraisers. She'd never felt what Meredith and Evelyn were talking about, but she didn't know if she even really wanted to. She was content with her two friends. Hell, she was content with just Kate. Anyway, to go to boarding school, she would have to leave the bunker, leave her family. And that just wasn't something she was close to ready for. Even if she'd had the resources, she wouldn't have gone to Belmont, as good a spiel as the girls had given her.


"We should head back in a few minutes," Evelyn said. "But if you wanna come see the lake first..."


Anna grinned.


()()()


"Oh yeah, she's a smart one," Anna could hear Dean saying as they walked back toward the headmaster's office. "Been outsmarting me since she was ten."


She wrinkled her nose, and felt her cheeks grow pink with embarrassment. It was more than a little bit of an embellishment about her intelligence, and Anna felt sure that the headmaster and these other students must know that. She scuffed the toe of her shoe against the floor.


"I guess they're still talking," Meredith said and dropped into one of the chairs by the door to the office. Anna and Evelyn sat down on either side of her.


"Hey, if you don't mind me asking," Evelyn said, leaning forward to see past Meredith and look at Anna. "Why's it just your Dad with you? Your mom stayed in Kansas? Or is she just not really the type to get involved." At Anna's uncertain look, Evelyn offered, "Mine's not the type."


Anna appreciated the honesty, but she just said, "I don't actually have a mom."


"Oh," Evelyn said. "So is your dad gay, or is he a widow?"


"Evelyn."


"Widow," Anna said. She looked at her shoes again.


"Oh," Evelyn repeated. "I'm sorry."


Anna shrugged. "She's been gone forever."


"Your dad seems pretty great," Meredith said. "Definitely ten times nicer than my dad."


"Yeah, mine too," Evelyn agreed. "He seems like he actually likes you. That's more than I can say."


Anna smiled a little. Dean might not have actually been her dad, but that didn't take any truth away from the things they were saying about him. "Yeah, he's great," she said, glad that Dean couldn't hear her right now. His head would never have gone back to its normal size again. "I mean, he cares."


"I'm glad to hear you feel that way, Mr Goodwin," the headmaster was saying, his voice moving closer to them now.


Anna briefly considered taking the chance to lean in and tell the girls what she'd seen earlier, but she didn't want to start anything, and she didn't know what kind of regard Mr Bryant or Ms Penn were held in. She didn't know if either of them was married, and she didn't know what kind of havoc spilling their secret could wreak. So she stayed quiet.


"So we'll hear back from you by Monday?"


"Sounds like a plan," Dean agreed as they stepped into the hallway.


Anna immediately stood up. She may have had a better time during the tour than expected, but she still felt drained of energy, and she wanted to go back to the motel where she was free to have no money and no mother without it being a big deal. She wanted to text Kate and tell her she'd met a girl with a morbid sense of humor who wore $50 lipstick but who was so drop-dead gorgeous that Kate would have fallen head over heels for her at first glance.


"It was a pleasure to meet you. And I hope to be giving you a locker key next week, young lady," Mr Bryant said, turning his attention to Anna.


"Thanks," she said, then looked back at the two girls and smiled gratefully at them with a little wave before she and Dean walked back toward the front doors. They stepped outside, the doors clicked shut behind them, and they simultaneously let out heavy breaths, Dean's hand going to loosen the tie at his throat and Anna's going to undo the button on her blazer.


They walked through the parking lot with their blazers draped over their arms, Dean's tie hanging loosely down his front. "I guess this place isn't that bad," Anna said.


"Nah," Dean agreed. "If we hadn't walked in on that show of, uh, indecency when we first got here, I might even regret that we couldn't send you here."


Anna glanced over at him. He cares.


La Fin

Comment